PiggyRide, a Bengaluru-based startup that offers cab services for kids, announced that it has raised Rs 14 crore pre-Series A funding from JAFCO Asia, along with a new investor Artha Venture Fund.
The company will utilise the fund infusion to scale its product and engineering team, while also going deeper into existing categories within the marketplace.
“Our two latest products PiggyDiscovery and Piggy Finance have seen a strong resonance with our existing parent audience. Covid-19 has further accelerated the need for parents to think more deeply about their child’s academic, extracurricular, and mental wellness needs, while at the same time, seek support in payment of school fees to ease out the financial burden,” Manish Tewari, CEO and founder of PiggyRide, said.
Earlier in November, PiggyRide had raised Rs 7.5 crore from JAFCO Asia and angel investors including InMobi founder Naveen Tewari and Livspace co-founder Ramakant Sharma.
The Bengaluru-based company focuses on children between the ages of 2 and 18. The company’s first product was a transport platform for children.
“PiggyRide is seen as a long-term partner to both parents, and educational institutes alike, which is a big defensibility in a consumer business. We are very bullish on the company’s two latest product launches in the financial services and education space, which are aimed at making the PiggyRide a full-stack ecosystem for parents to give their children a holistic development experience,” said Supriya Singh, Director, JAFCO Asia.
The startup was founded by Manish Tewari and Rohan Kaushal in 2019. Prior to this, Manish Tewari, an IIT Varanasi alumnus has co-founded Koovs and Pokkt. Rohan Kaushal is an IIT Delhi alum with over nine years of experience of working closely with startups like Ola, Koovs, among others.
The startup runs three products including PiggyDiscovery, which offers parents and kids a platform to browse and book extracurricular interest-based activities. It also operates an education financing marketplace, PiggyFinance that assists parents with lesser disposable income to pay off school fees in instalments.
